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The total deaths from zymotic diseases, including those above specified,
have been 143, among which are 4 from pyæmia, 1 from carbuncle, and 4
from erysipelas.
According to the Registrar General's returns, it appears that the rainfall
during this quarter has been 5.84 in. During the corresponding quarter of
last year rain fell to the amount of 4.27 in. The increase in the fall of rain
has therefore exceeded inches over that of the corresponding quarter of
1864.*
The increase of mortality from epidemic diseases is a matter of great
regret, and* especially so when the labours of the sanitary officers of your
Board are perseveringly continued in endeavouring to improve the sanitary
condition of the poor localities in the district; but while so many persons are
compelled, owing to the difficulty in obtaining house accommodation, to crowd
together in confined places, an increase in the rate of mortality may be
anticipated. The difficulty which the poor experience in obtaining house
accommodation, and more especially those who have large families, has lately
been further increased, owing to the recent demolition of many houses
formerly inhabited by the labouring class, for the extension of railways,
the formation of new streets, for the erection of warehouses, and for public
buildings.
The overcrowding of persons in the same house and the crowding together
of houses in confined places are evils which at present cannot easily be prevented.
There is also considerable difficulty, at all events much time is consumed,
in compelling a landlord to thoroughly cleanse and purify a house in
which fever has attacked in succession several of the inmates, and in prohibiting
him from letting such house for occupation until the same shall have been
declared fit for habitation by the Medical Officer of Health.
This district is one of the most densely populated in the Metropolis. The
average space allotted to each inhabitant is only about 24 square yards,† the
total area of the district being 406 acres, of which 23 acres consists of water,
and the population is 78,970. If, however, each individual had a space of 24
square yards, including the space on which his house stood, there would not be
much cause for complaint upon the subject of density of population, but the
inhabitants of some of the courts. in the district have less than 5 square yards
•gt.or each. Thus, in Tewksbury Buildings, situated in High Street, Whitechapel,
there is a population of 211. This place is a cul-de-sac, having a
narrow covered entrance, and is about 67 yards in length by 5 yards in width,
with 7 houses on each side two stories in height, without back yards, and with
* In the weekly return of the Registrar General ending February 4th is the following
note:- An English acre consists of .6,272,640 square inches. An inch deep of rain on an
acre yields 6,272,640 cubic inches of water, which at 277.274 cubic inches to the gallon
makes 22622.5 gallons; and as a gallon of distilled water weighs 10 lbs., the rainfall on an
acre is 226,225 lbs. avoirdupois; but 2,240 lbs. are a ton, and consequently an inch deep
of rain weighs 100.993 tons, or nearly 101 tons per acre. For every hundreth of an inch
a ton of water falls per acre.
† In St. George, Hanover Square, about 78 square yards is the average space allotted
to each inhabitant.